The invention generally relates to enhancing well fluid recovery.
In general, the productivity of a reservoir increases when the reservoir has been subjected to seismic vibrational energy that is produced by an earthquake. Although the exact mechanism that causes the increased production is not well understood, the enhanced productivity has been hypothesized to be the result of the seismic vibrational energy squeezing out oil that has been bypassed in earlier recovery efforts due to reservoir heterogeneity.
Many attempts have been made to deliver vibrational energy to reservoirs for purposes of enhancing oil recovery. These attempts includes the use of surface seismic “thumping;” injected water pulses; sonic and ultrasonic devices in the wellbore; and various explosive techniques.